Damage from Hurricane Sandy could be catastrophic

Oct. 28, 2012
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A Cape Charles police officer tapes off the town fishing pier and beach to restrict access on Sunday. Areas on the Chesapeake Bay side of the Eastern Shore of Virginia were already experiencing coastal flooding from Hurricane Sandy. / Jay Diem, Eastern Shor News

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

Words like catastrophic, historic, life-threatening and even "worse than Katrina" are all being used to describe the ferocity of oncoming Hurricane Sandy, now forecast to make landfall late Monday night or early Tuesday morning somewhere along the New Jersey coast.

However, forecasters warned people not to focus on the storm center. Howling winds extend hundreds of miles from the eye of Sandy and are starting to impact coastal regions already. The National Hurricane Center reported that tropical storm force winds (from 39-73 mph) extend out 520 miles in many directions from the center of Sandy.

As of 2 p.m., the center of the storm was located about 575 miles due south of New York City, with sustained wind speeds of 75 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. Sandy was moving to the northeast at 14 mph.

Since records of storm size began in 1988, no tropical storm or hurricane has been larger, reports meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground.

About 60 million people are in the path of Sandy, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski says, and billions of dollars of damage are expected as the storm roars through.

Top weather impacts:

Storm surge: Ocean water pushed onshore by the hurricane will likely cause the most destruction. A storm surge of from 6 to 11 feet is forecast to swamp New York City, which could overtop the city's levees and flood the subway system. "It is possible areas from New Jersey to New York City and Long Island have some of their worst coastal flooding on record," Sosnowski says.

High winds: Wild winds of up to 75 mph will likely knock out power to millions of people in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. "There is the potential for tens of thousands of trees to be downed and millions of utility customers could be without power," Sosnowski says. Masters reports that a power outage computer model run by Johns Hopkins University predicts that 10 million people will lose power from the storm.

Rainfall: Rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches are expected over portions of the Mid-Atlantic States, including the Delmarva Peninsula, with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches possible. The rain could lead to river flooding in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Masters predicts that river flooding from Sandy will cause just under $1 billion in damage.

Snowfall: Forecasters say that some spots in the mountains of West Virginia have the potential to receive up to 2 feet of snow from the storm as rain from Sandy collides with cold air moving into the region.

Overall: "I expect the total damage (including loss to the U.S. economy) to be worse than Katrina," says meteorologist Mike Smith of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions. He reports that Sandy may cause more than $100 billion in damage.